Elevator Thoughts (aka Tweet): Mary Jane at Seattle Rep 🎠starring Brenda Joyner in a quietly devastating play about the invisible weight of long-term caregiving family members. A story of resilience and human connection for people dealt an impossible hand in life. Timely reminder that the USA desperately needs universal healthcare. Neat set transition between dirty apartment to sterile hospital.
See it if you’re okay with plays that are kind of a downer.
Was This the First Time I Attended a Production of this Show? Yes
Would I See It Again 3 Years from Now? No, but it wasn’t bad.
Mainstream Appeal: Low to medium
If A Random Stranger Asked What Show They Should See This Weekend, Would I Mention This Production? Yes
My Synopsis (No Spoilers): Mary Jane follows a poor single mother navigating the relentless demands of caring for her child with cerebral palsy largely on her own.
Synopsis from the Licensor or Theatre Company: Mary Jane is a cheerful caregiver and unflagging advocate for her toddler, Alex, who lives with cerebral palsy and chronic illness—but the American healthcare system can wear anybody down, especially a single parent. While navigating her son’s health challenges, Mary Jane meets and builds community with women from all walks of life, experiencing joy and connection amidst the distress and heartbreak. Poignantly humorous and deeply cathartic, this semi-autobiographical drama by Tony-nominated playwright Amy Herzog is a love letter to caregivers and support systems of all kinds.
Type: Play
World Premiere: No
Several or Few Scenes: Few
Several or Few Settings/Locations: Two
Static (Stationary) or Dynamic Set: Mostly static except for a single moment when an apartment transformed into a hospital waiting room
Prior Exposure/Knowledge Required: None
Defined Plot/Storyline: It was more dialogue than action
Union Actor(s): 4
Total Actor(s): 5
Perceived Pace of the Show: Medium speed
Was there an intermission? No
Length (Including Any Intermission): 90 minutes
Other Rave(s)
- Human Resilience: This was an eye-opening play that illuminated the quiet, unglamorous struggles of caregivers taking care of disabled family members. It can certainly be extended to adult children caring for aging parents. What struck me most was Mary Jane’s (played by Brenda Joyner) extraordinary positivity in the face of genuinely shitty circumstances. She had a disabled child who could not communicate, a partner who left because of the child, and financial precarity as a constant backdrop. Her responses to crisis were admirable, calm, and even slightly positive. It was the composed face of someone who has learned that falling apart is a luxury she cannot afford. The play’s most wonderfully tense moment was a seizure scene that sent one character into a panic while Mary Jane held it together with a strong single mother front. I surely would have freaked out myself.
- Human Connection: The theme of community and support was one of the play’s most affecting threads. It was a reminder that it really does “take a village” in this life. A particularly heartbreaking scene was when counseled a newly-initiated cerebral palsy mom (played by Andi Alhadeff). It laid bare the troubling fact that the knowledge caregivers need to survive is still passed informally person-to-person because the documentation and broader systems of support simply aren’t there. Sufferers must teach other sufferers to ensure survival.
- Stage Mechanics: Lately, I’ve noticed Seattle Rep has developed a real flair for transformative sets that make a statement through their movement. In this show, scenic designer Julia Hayes Welch conceptualized a dingy New York City apartment opened up mid-play into a sterile hospital waiting area. It reminded me of the rotating stage in Seattle Rep’s previous Mother Russia and Blues for an Alabama Sky. Or the rising police car and rising patio wall in Seattle Rep’s Laughs in Spanish. It’s becoming a signature of the Seattle Rep’s productions.
Other Musing(s) and Observation(s)
- Dialogue Play: I’m typically not drawn to dialogue-heavy plays, but I didn’t even register that Mary Jane was one until after the show. This is an indicator that the absence of conventional action didn’t feel like a deficit in the script.
- Title: “Mary Jane” was a slightly puzzling choice for a title and character name. The title primed me for a marijuana subplot (which is a reasonable assumption for a Seattle audience) that never materialized. Whether the title was meant to signal something more symbolic, I’m still not sure. It felt like an opportunity for a stronger signal.
- HIPAA: The script implied that the home nurse (played by Shaunyce Omar) shared patient information with her niece. As a healthcare professional, I can’t help but wonder if HIPAA was followed!
- Ending (Limited Spoilers): The ending was the play’s weakest moment. It was abrupt, anticlimactic, and oddly fixated on a thread that had received little development earlier in the script. The fate of the son was never clearly resolved, and the final note left me searching for an ultimate message. Was it “there is beauty in pain?” A play this emotionally precise deserved a closing that matched its ambition.
Theatre Company: Seattle Rep
Venue: Leo Kreielsheimer Theater at Seattle Rep
Venue Physical Address: 155 Mercer St, Seattle, WA 98109
Price Range: $79 – 103
Ticket Affordability Options: See the theatre’s official pages about discounts and pay-what-you-can performances.
Seating: Assigned Seats
Parking: There are paid lots and paid street parking. I usually park on Mercer to the West of 1st Ave. There’s usually also plentiful street parking around Safeway. If there’s an event in Seattle Center or Climate Pledge Arena, street parking is usually limited and much more expensive.
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Photos: See production photos below by Sayed Alamy.
Cast and Production Team: See after photos below.
